Posted on Apr 9, 2023
Poetry-loving Biden heads to Ireland, home of the 'best poets in the world'
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https://www.npr.org/2023/04/09/ [login to see] /poetry-loving-biden-heads-to-ireland-home-of-the-best-poets-in-the-world
President Biden wears his Irish Catholic heritage on his sleeve – a fact that will be on full display during his visit to Ireland this coming week. The trip marks the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement that ended violence in Northern Ireland. But it is also a personal visit. Biden plans to see two counties where he has family roots.
So while Biden is expected to talk diplomacy and economics, there's a very good chance he also cites the great Irish poets William Butler Yeats and Seamus Heaney along the way. Afterall, Biden quotes Irish poets so often, he has a joke about it.
"They always used to kid me because I am always quoting Irish poets on the floor of the Senate," Biden said at a White House event in honor of the singer Elton John. "They think I did it because I'm Irish. That's not the reason. I do it because they're the best poets in the world."
Biden tells this joke a lot, usually right before quoting some more Irish poetry.
President Biden wears his Irish Catholic heritage on his sleeve – a fact that will be on full display during his visit to Ireland this coming week. The trip marks the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement that ended violence in Northern Ireland. But it is also a personal visit. Biden plans to see two counties where he has family roots.
So while Biden is expected to talk diplomacy and economics, there's a very good chance he also cites the great Irish poets William Butler Yeats and Seamus Heaney along the way. Afterall, Biden quotes Irish poets so often, he has a joke about it.
"They always used to kid me because I am always quoting Irish poets on the floor of the Senate," Biden said at a White House event in honor of the singer Elton John. "They think I did it because I'm Irish. That's not the reason. I do it because they're the best poets in the world."
Biden tells this joke a lot, usually right before quoting some more Irish poetry.
Poetry-loving Biden heads to Ireland, home of the 'best poets in the world'
Posted from npr.org
Poetry
Joe Biden
Posted 1 y ago
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My grandmother Mary came over on the boat from Ireland. She died leaving my mother and her infant brother. The Catholic Church took my mother in and she was raised by a nun. She never knew what happened to her brother Eddie Tarte until one day her and her brothers were able to gather once before cancer took them all. Eddie Tarte spent 30 years in the USN. May he RIP
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
Maj Kim Patterson Sounds Like an Amazing Family! Do You Know what "Rate" Job Specialty Uncle Eddie Was? Could someone add Him the Navy Log at the Navy Memorial? Just some Thoughts.
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Maj Kim Patterson
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel i don’t, that information died with my mother 23 years ago.
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I grew up with Irish communities all around me. I'm probably more familiar with Irish than Danish traditions.
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen I can appreciate the Attitude, I Grew Up in the German/Irish Community of College Hill, Cincinnati, OH.
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."O'Doherty said he's been in many a room when a politician starts talking about hope and history rhyming and everyone just rolls their eyes. But he sees Biden as someone who has lived a life of great joy and great sorrow in "the Irish way," something that is given voice by the great Irish poets.
"It may be a reflex, but I think it is heartfelt," O'Doherty said of Biden's frequent citations of Irish poetry. "I think that it steers him and steadies him. And it's something that he reaches for the way that the Irish people do themselves. We reach for the poets when language fails us, when history fails us, when we feel that there's no path forward."
..."O'Doherty said he's been in many a room when a politician starts talking about hope and history rhyming and everyone just rolls their eyes. But he sees Biden as someone who has lived a life of great joy and great sorrow in "the Irish way," something that is given voice by the great Irish poets.
"It may be a reflex, but I think it is heartfelt," O'Doherty said of Biden's frequent citations of Irish poetry. "I think that it steers him and steadies him. And it's something that he reaches for the way that the Irish people do themselves. We reach for the poets when language fails us, when history fails us, when we feel that there's no path forward."
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